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Item - The Mystery of Atlantis

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(American edition)
(British edition, first printing)
(British edition, first printing)
(British edition, first printing)
(British edition, first printing)

Combined Summary

Series: Time Machine — no. 8
Platforms: Kindle (Kindle edition)
Microsoft Reader (Microsoft Reader edition)
Translated Into: Atlantismysteriet (Norwegian)
O mistério de Atlântida (Portuguese)
El misterio de la Atlántida (Spanish)
Il mistero di Atlantide (Italian)
Le Mystère de l'Atlantide (French)
Skrivnost Atlantide (Slovenian)
Tajanstvena Atlantida (Serbo-Croatian)
Tajemnica Atlantydy (Polish)
Author: Gasperini, Jim
Illustrator: Smith, Kenneth
Dates: August, 1985 (American edition)
2001 (Microsoft Reader edition)
August 29, 2013 (Kindle edition)
ISBN: 0553250736 / 9780553250732 (American edition, British edition, first printing)
Length: 123 pages (plus data bank and data file)
Number of Endings: 1
Cover Price: US$2.25 (American edition)
UK£1.25 (British edition, first printing)
User Summary: You must travel through time to find the historical basis for the story of Atlantis.
Demian's Thoughts:

Like the first book in the series, this is a fairly easy book to get through, but it's definitely an entertaining read.

More reviews by Demian

Shadeheart's Thoughts:

[Rating: 1/10]
[Recommended? NO]

While the promising potential of the premise in the Time Machine adventure "The Mystery of Atlantis" is at least partially well-handled, there were particularly few redeeming components to save the quest from its prominent, pitiful weaknesses. It's unfortunate how the dangers are kept at arm's length even though the era's appealing visual-oriented choice-based design system fares well as far as reader immersiveness goes. The writing drifts from uninspired and clunky to very much aware of the narrative's potential, but - as with the majority of the books in the series - I think the adventure would've been more enjoyable had it avoided limiting itself to a single correct path; the inventory selection at the start is a bit arbitrary, I might add, and less seamlessly woven into the story compared to the databank, use of setting and handling of "characters". While the year it take place in may be 400 BC, you won't find too many pointers suggesting a whole lot of imagination was put into the writing of this quest apart from what had commonly been covered in existing documents/research books or documentaries at the time this was written; though the research isn't exactly dated, per se, retrospectively there are parts scattered about here and there which feel a bit incomplete.

These books, which in all truth are merely self-indulgent and hard-to-find excursions into a different point in time, appear hyper-focused on their short-lived novelty value - a real shame, since the design and the execution of the linear quest itself isn't all that great to begin with. With the exception of collectors of the series or the most ardent of pseudo-history buffs, I'm afraid I can't recommend this title or any of its time-traveling trepidations. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart

Special Thanks:Thanks to Ryan Lynch for the British cover images.
Users Who Own This Item: Alatar001, AlHazred, Andys80s, Ardennes, Arkadia, auximenes, bigcobra, bookwormjeff, CSquared, dave2002a, domj29, Eamonn McCusker, egokun, Erikwinslow, exaquint (no price), Ffghtermedic, firefoxpdm, Greeneuva, Gurvo, Himynameistony, hoops4ever, horrorbusiness, Hrk, jdreller, katzcollection, kinderstef, kleme, knginatl, mlvoss, nelsondesign, Nomad, ntar, Oberonbombadil (UK 1st (my childhood copy)), outspaced, Radical347, resurgens, RonaldFrobnitz, Seizure, Sheridan77, spragmatic, strawberry_brite, ThaRid, theyodaman, ThisIslandEarth, tonk82, waktool (UK 1st printing), Yalius
Users Who Want This Item: bonhomme, Cyan, dblizzard72, Dronak, exaquint (2.25), HAMBORSKI (I would like to purchase this book.), Mr ?, NEMO, nordik (Mystery of Atlantis), plowboy, Pseudo_Intellectual, Ryuran333, SherlockHolmes, stock, Waluigi Freak 99
Users with Extra Copies: bigcobra
Fireguard
Sheridan77 - Ex lib

Known Editions

American edition
British edition, first printing
Microsoft Reader edition
Kindle edition

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Related Documents

Structure Diagram

Time Machine # 8 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.